Speaking in front of the Maverick PAC last Friday, Erik Prince, founder of the now-disbanded Blackwater private military contracting firm, insinuated that the best way to crush the Islamic State group would be through the use of mercenary soldiers, reported The Daily Beast.

“It’s a shame the (Obama) administration crushed my old business, because as a private organization, we could’ve solved the boots-on-the-ground issue,” Prince said.

“We could have had contracts from people that want to go there as contractors. (They could have) gone in there and done it, and be done, and not have a long, protracted political mess that I predict will ensue.”

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Part of the reason that Prince’s company lost funding was because his soldiers reportedly killed 17 civilians during what was known as the Nisour Square massacre. According to The New York Times, the perpetrators of this horrific calamity were eventually sentenced to long prison terms.

While the mistake made by his soldiers was indeed appalling, did it justify cutting off funding for an organization that was otherwise known for performing miracles in the Middle East?

The underlying premise of Prince’s rhetoric was that the deployment of private soldiers wouldn’t come with the same political price as the deployment of American regulars. Private soldiers could be deployed with much less risk of political backlash from a war-weary American public. This would allow a private military group to swiftly and effectively swoop into the Middle East and wreak havoc on the Islamic State.

“I want you to tell your congressman that we pay them to fight,” he said. “They are hired to fight for our values, for what you sent them there to do. I am sick and tired of Republicans getting rolled — having a lousy, weak leadership that gets rolled every time by the Democratic Party.”

He added that the Republican Party needs “to get off their ass and fight like we pay them to.”